Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Jan 7: In and around Khajuraho (part 2 of 3)

10 rupees gives you access to one of the most fantastic examples ofarchitecture you will find in India. The ASI board claims that this isthe finest in India, but that's a false claim. In my opinion, thecrown goes to Halebid(or is it Belur?) temples just on the basis oftheir fine stone carvings! (one Spaniard I met completely agreed withthis observation)

There are more than 12 temples inside the complex. One better than theother, but I am surely not competent to make this distinction. Thereare many things a tourist can do here. Just sitting around watchingall the temples, both from inside and outside is bound to keep oneoccupied for more than a couple of hours. Taking a close look at allthe temples is bound to take a whole day, I'm sure. A half drunk,ill-mannered tourist from Jabalpur is trying to trying to strke afriendship with one of the foreign ladies(they heavily outnumber thedesis here). But what to do? His broken english seems to confuse thiskorean, whose english is equally suspect. So he seeks help from me!I'm not in a mood to oblige - afterall, I'm here to watch the temples.This displeases him. It needed a stern threat from me to report hisbehaviour to the guards to shut him up for good.

Ah, reminds me - I haven't described the temples. Khajuraho is ratherwell known for the erotic sculptures. Going by this, if you expect tosee entire temples dedicated to kamadeva, then you are likely to bedisappointed! They are there, yes, and found mostly on the outside ofthe temple. The rest of the carvings are of the popular gods. Ofparticular interest to me are the circular carvings on the shikharas.